Level adjusting device for articles or the like



y 1960 c. u. LARSON ETAL 2,937,718

LEVEL ADJUSTING DEVICE FOR ARTICLES OR THE LIKE Filed Jan. 2, 1958 2Sheets-Sheet 1 21 men/0r 7542/ dgfla fa'on.

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May 24, 1960 c. u. LARSON ETAL 2,937,718

LEVEL ADJUSTING DEVICE FOR ARTICLES OR THE LIKE Filed Jan. 2, 1958 2Sheets-Sheet 2 1 35 J2 m I] 1 I W IT H W ITZ luml ll jazz/0715.

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Pe/er 5a (a vUnited States Patent LEVEL ADJUSTING DEVICE FOR ARTICLES ORTHE LIKE Filed Jan. 2, 1958, Ser. No. 706,728

1 Claim. (Cl. 187-24) This invention relates to a structure foradjusting the level of an article or the like, and more particularly forpermitting an adjustment in the height of a plumbing item such as alavatory in the course of use thereof.

The difiiculty encountered by a small child in washing his hands, forinstance, or of getting a drink of water or even of a grownup assistinga child in washing his hands in an ordinary lavatory is well known. Itis accordingly a primary object of the present invention to provide alavatory support which can be actuated as by means of push buttons toautomatically raise or lower a lavatory to a desired height.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent upon proceeding withthe following description read with the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a preferred form of the present invention,a portion being shown broken away for clarity of illustration;

Fig. 2 is a rear view of the same;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken along lines 3-3 of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a diagram showing the electrical wiring for operation of thedevice.

Considering the illustrated device in detail and with referenceparticularly to Figs. 1 through 3, the numeral 1 designates the wall ofa bathroom or the like in which the present device is installed, thenumeral 2 indicating the floor line of the room. The present structurecomprises a pair of upright supporting members 4 which may be of pipestock, which members being supported by forwardly extending feet members6 extending under the floor of the room. The supporting members 4 inturn receive upper and lower collar members 7 which are tightened ontothe vertical supports by means of set screws 8 and onto which aresecured a pair of flat cross members 9 and 10 respectively by means ofscrews 11.

The cross members are provided with upper and lower bearings 12 throughwhich extend rotatable shafts 14 having threaded portions 15. Mounted onone of the cross members, preferably the lower one, is an electric motor17 of a conventional alternating current, fractional horsepower typewhich has accompanying the same a gear reducer 18 and a pair of pulleys19 on the shaft 20 extending from the gear reducer. The shafts 14 alsoare provided with pulleys 21 which are interconnected with pulleys 20 byrubber belts 22 as clearly shown in Fig. 2. Also mounted on the saidshafts, and more particularly on the threaded portions thereof, are apair of fabricated brackets 24 which contain threaded bores through therearward portions 25 for axial movement along the shafts when the latterare rotated. The bracket members are adapted to extend through a pair ofslots 26 in the wall of the bathroom or the like, which brackets supporta curved strap member 28 which is horizontally disposed and adapted toreceive a lavatory (not shown) for support of the latter. It should beunderstood that the strap member contacts the underside of the lavatorybetween the basin portion and the periph- 2,937,718 Patented May 24,1960 ice eral rim. The design of this strap and indeed the entiresupporting structure may be modified for support of various types oflavatories.

In order to operate the present device, an electrical system, seeparticularly Fig. 4, is provided. Should it be desired to cause thesupport member to raise the lavatory, the up button 31 mounted on thewall or other convenient place is pressed. Reference to the wiringdiagram of Fig. 4 will show that this completes the up circuit andenergizes the motor M so as to rotate the shafts 14 which causes anequal upward movement of the lavatory supporting brackets 24. Uponachievement of the desired height, the up button is released and themotor and operating mechanism comes to rest in a few seconds. Should thelavatory be desired to be lowered, as for instance when a child desiresto use the same, the down button 32 is pressed completing the downcircuit which causes the motor M to operate in the reverse direction andconsequently the bracket members moved in the downward direction. Thisbutton is of course released when the lavatory is at the desired lowerposition and the latter accordingly comes to rest shortly thereafter.

Considering the wiring diagram with more particularity, it is seen thatthe ordinary volt alternating house current is employed coming inthrough the lines L1 and L2. This voltage is reduced by means of thetransformer 34 to 24 volts for safety to the user of the push buttons 31and 32. Depending on which of the push buttons is operated, either theup or the down circuit will be closed and one or the other of the up ordown relays 35 and 36, respectively, will be brought into operationwhich boosts the current up to 110 volts. From the relays, the currentpasses through the switches 37 and 38 which are of the retarded actiontype. The purpose of these latter switches are to prevent immediateenergization of the motor as soon as the down button for instance ispressed, while the operating motor and operating mechanism is stillturning in an upward direction. When such down button should be pressedshortly after releasing the up button and while the motor mechanism isstill moving upwardly under momentum the down switch 37 is notimmediately closed, but rather remains open for a predetermined numberof seconds suflicient for the motor and moving parts to come to rest,after which time the down switch operates to close the down circuit andoperate the motor and parts in the opposite direction. It should bepointed out that as soon as the operators finger has released the upbutton for instance while perhaps immediately thereafter pressing thedown button, the up switch 38 is immediately broken so that theoperating mechanism coasts to a stop. Should the up button in turn bepressed immediately after release of the down button, the reverseoperation would take place. In other words, the down switch 37 wouldimmediately open but the up switch 38 would close after the passage ofthe predetermined time and the motor and moving parts have come to rest.The electric current passes from the switches 37 and 38 to the reversingrelay 40 and from thence to the motor. The reversing relay causes areversal of the relation of the starting winding of the motor withrespect to the running winding in the well known manner for reversal ofalternating current motors.

It is also evident from viewing the wiring diagram that should thelavatory be in the uppermost position the upper limit switch 41 would beengaged by the mechanism by means of the combined trip and crossbar 42,see Figs. 1 and 2, and be thrown open so that there could be nocompletion of the up circuit, to avoid damaging upward movement of theparts. On the other hand, should the lavatory be in the downward extremeposition and in contact with the down limit switch 43, the latter wouldprevent closing of the down circuit and operation in the downwarddirection. It should of course be understood, that the limit switchesalso stop movement of the device when either of the end limits ofmovement has been reached and one of the buttons 31, 32 is continued tobe depressed. No novelty is ascribed to the various component parts ofwhich the wiring is composed as the various switches and operativeelements thereof are conventional, their construction and operationbeing understood by those familiar with the art.

The above description is merely illustrative of the invention which isto be measured by the terms of the appended claim.

We claim:

A level adjusting device or the like comprising shaft means extending inan upward and downward direction, said shaft means being supportedsolely for rotation, sup porting means received on said shaft means, oneof said shaft means and supporting means having threading thereon, theother of said shaft means and supporting means having means engagingsaid threading whereby to raise said supporting means upon predeterminedrotation of said shaft means and to lower said supporting means uponreverse rotation of said shaft means, means for effecting thepredetermined and reverse rotation of said shaft means including areversible electric motor and circuit means for energizing the motor inthe direction of rotation for effecting upward movement of saidsupporting means and circuit means for energizing the motor in theopposite direction of rotation for effecting downward movement of saidsupporting means, said first and second named circuit means each havinga delayed action switch which assumes the circuit making condition aftera predetermined time interval after initial energization thereof and alimit switch, a motor reversing relay in said first and second namedcircuit means, said first and second named circuit means each havingcircuit means connected to a source of electrical power, the circuitmeans of said first and second named circuit means each being connectedto one of said delayed action switches for euergization thereof and toone of said limit switches in series, said first and second circuitmeans each having a circuit connected to a power source and between thedelayed action switch of the circuit means and said reversing relay,each of the latter circuits being closed by the delayed action switch ofthe circuit means of which the circuit is a part after a predeterminedtime interval after initial energization of the switch, said limitswitches being arranged to open respectively at predetermined upper andlower positions of said supporting means so as to deenergize therespective delayed action switches thus breaking the respective circuitsof said first and second circuit meansand consequently haltingenergization of the motor, switch means closable for permitting currentto flow through the circuit means of said first and second named circuitmeans when the limit switch of the circuit means intended to beenergized is closed, said delayed action switches being constructed toopen immediately upon interruption of energization thereof by means ofsaid limit switches or said switch means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,564,536 Davis Dec. 8, 1925 2,207,544 Knudsen July 9, 1940 2,663,929Carpenter Dec. 29, 1953 2,824,623 Nord Feb. 25, 1958

